Junior diamond mining company Diamcor Mining says that, owing to ongoing delays at its operation in South Africa, it will be unable to file its audited financial statements and corresponding management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended March 31, on or before the prescribed filing deadline of July 29.

The company’s Krone-Endora at Venetia mining operation is located in South Africa, which experienced weeks of Stage 6 load-shedding (also known as rolling blackouts) in July by the State-owned electricity utility, Eskom.

“As has been widely reported, South Africa’s State-owned power supplier Eskom was forced to implement significant load-shedding measures over a period of several weeks. The load-shedding measures were varied depending on power reduction requirements, but resulted in power blackouts several times per day over a period of weeks. 

“The frequency of these power blackouts limited the ability of the majority of businesses in South Africa to operate as normal, and resulted in various operational and administrative delays for the company,” Diamcor says.

The reasons for the delay in filing include the inability to complete the South African portion of the company’s yearly audit in normal time frames as a result of ongoing delays relating to the power load-shedding implemented by Eskom, and the Canadian auditors’ inability to complete their audit owing to reliance on the finalisation of audit work in South Africa, the company says.

Diamcor says it is working with its auditors on the remaining items to allow for the audit of the financial statements for the period to be completed.

It anticipates that it will be in a position to file its financial disclosure before August 31.

Diamcor confirms that it will comply with the alternative information guidelines included in National Policy 12-203 – Management Cease Trade Orders, for so long as it remains in default of a specified requirement.

The company has filed an application with the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission requesting that these issue a management cease trade order against the company’s directors, officers and insiders instead of a cease trade order against the company and all of its securityholders.